Limited Series Emmy Dreams Dashed for ‘Horror Story’ and Other Series

An Emmy ruling has decided that the Ryan Murphy anthology series will now be positioned for Drama Series.

It appears that not even Lucifer’s son could save American Horror Story: Apocalypse from being considered as a Limited Series.

The Television Academy has ruled that Apocalypse, The Sinner, and American Vandal are no longer eligible for the Limited Series categories since they had characters from previous seasons included in their latest iterations. Horror Story regulars reprised multiple characters to the delight (and chagrin) of loyal fans of the Ryan Murphy series. While The Sinner focused on an entirely different crime, Bill Pullman (who was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award earlier this year) reprised his role as Harry Ambrose. While the dicks may have been left behind in the second season of American Vandal, Griffin Gluck and Tyler Alvarez reprised their roles from the freshman outing.

What does this mean for Emmys? Horror Story has been a Limited Series staple since the beginning of its run with a few missteps (looking at you, Roanoke!), but this decision surely dashes its dreams outside any technical categories. If you like to gamble,it’s safe to assume that Horror Story will get a Hairstyling and Makeup nomination no matter what series branch it’s campaigned in. What would be truly interesting is if Jessica Lange can pull off a Guest Actress in a Drama Series nomination since she won Supporting Actress for the first season with Murder House.

Do the other series stand a chance? Maybe Pullman could turn out a nomination, but Vandal‘s chances seem significantly dashed.